Apr 20, 2012

Hooroo . . . from Humpty Doo!

Okay, so I’m not actually writing this blog from Humpty Doo.In fact, I didn’t know it was a real place until the other day when some nomading friends pulled up to stay there on one of their stops around the country. But I quickly Googled and found out that Humpty Doo is indeed a town in the Northern Territory, Australia. (Click on the link to discover some fascinating things about this little town just under fifty kilometres from the capital of the NT, Darwin) According to my Googling efforts it boasts a giant boxing kangaroo and a bird watching haven called Fogg Dam.

Hearing about this place got me thinking about some of the other, bizarrely named towns I’ve been to, or heard about. Like Yorkey’s Knob, north of Cairns, where I visited once as a child. Or Nowhere Else – which is odd at best, but even stranger considering there are two towns called that name – one in South Australia and one in Tasmania.

Travel across the ditch to the US and there are some interesting names to be had – how about Winkleman, Arizona? Looneyville, West Virginia? Toad Suck, Arkansas? Vermont Bread Loaf, Utah? Or Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania?

But my favourite comes from my country of origin, Wales. Having welsh parent’s, I was raised on a diet of things called Toad in the Hole, or a Spotted Dick. And the names of the villages are equally mystifying. Perhaps the most bewildering of all also boasts the record as the longest town name in Europe – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

Trying saying that after a couple of glasses of wine. It was almost a rite of passage in my family (I’m the youngest of seven kids) to have to master that pronunciation.

Have you travelled somewhere with a unique, odd or impossibly inappropriate name? Did you pick up any quirky memorabillia? I'm giving away a copy of my January Special Edition release, Made For Marriage, to the commenter who has been to the place, town or village with the most unusual name!

18 comments:

Years ago we had a holiday in Austria. To our delight we stayed in an area full of Eggs. Yes, there was a town called Egg with a marvellous park and playground. I have a photo of my youngest sitting on a train carved from a massive log and painted, with 'Egg' on the front. In the park was a circular walk through the forest with lots of life sized, painted cut out characters from fairy tales. I've forgotten most of the the other towns but there was Wotsanegg (spelling may be wrong but that was the pronunciation) and Amenegg (which we pronounced Ham and Egg, of course!). Every day as we headed out we joked about finding Bacon and Egg as well but that one eluded us.

Here's one from Kiwiland (take a deep breath first) -Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu

It's the Māori name for a hill in southern Hawke's Bay ans is often shortened to Taumata. It's the longest place name found in any English-speaking country, and the 2nd-longest place name in the world.

It means "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one". I guess it's a bit of a love story all by itself. :-) 85 letters later, I say, "WHEW!"

Helen, my welsh grandies taught me to say it, too. And they told me what it means but that part's drifted off into space, sadly.

The only entertaining name I can think of is INTERCOURSE, Pennsylvania. I guess made a smidge more funny because it's smack in the middle of Amish country. So of course we had to stop the car and get a picture...

Search This Blog

STILL AVAILABLE

These books are still available as eBooks, and at some locations you might find them as paperbacks.

Amy Andrews

Sue MacKay

Yvonne Lindsay

Louisa George

Annie West

Helen Lacey

Michelle Douglas

Stefanie London

Stefanie London: The Tycoon's Stowaway

Jennifer St George

Rachel Bailey

Barb DeLeo

Claire Baxter

Bronwyn Jameson

Sharon Archer

CAT-nnected

Permissions

All content and images on this blog are copyright to the LoveCats unlessotherwise stated or implied. Images we have used are either with-permission ordetermined to be copyright free (to the best of our knowledge). If you haveconcerns over an image or other material we have used please contact us at lovecatsdownunder@y7mail.comand we will remove it asap.